


a substitute heart has just reprieved you

by sandyk



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, but more than two sentences, it's not super graphic depiction of violence at all, parental adjacent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27357928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandyk/pseuds/sandyk
Summary: No one, not even Peter Parker's aunt, knows the kid is Spider-man besides Tony and it's so hard on Tony.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46
Collections: Fic In A Box





	a substitute heart has just reprieved you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Not mine, no profit garnered. Title from Aimee Mann's borrowing time.

The kid, that stupid stupid kid, refused to tell anyone he was Spider-man. Wouldn't tell his little friends, wouldn't tell his lovely Aunt. That left Tony and Happy, mostly Tony, to take care of him. He provided Peter with his suit, sat with him late at night while the kid decompressed, fed him sometimes. 

"You should tell someone," Tony would say. 

"I got you, what more do I need," Peter would say. Always a little loopy from being smashed around or exhausted. 

Tony didn't feel comfortable leaving New York. Hell, he barely liked leaving the City to head to the compound. The kid threw himself into danger without a thought. So far, he survived everything. It was deeply frustrating how little Peter understood that his luck was going to run out. It was almost certain to happen. Tony really didn't want to be in Hong Kong when it happened because no one would know to scrape the kid off the pavement. 

Tony had decided, given that there was literally no way to stop the short adventurer of justice, Tony would just have to make him better. First, Peter came by once a week to work on the suit. The kid had to know it better. "Do you think it'll help if I have a thousand web combinations, Mr. Stark? That seems unlikely." 

"You never know. Some of these might save your life. Someday," Tony said.

"The three different variations that are just neon colored?" Peter looked skeptical. 

"Could make a difference," Tony said. "It's not like you know." 

Tony also set to work to train the kid to actually deal with danger. He enlisted Rhodey in that one. Once Rhodey got over the whole he's only fifteen thing, Rhodes seemed to love regressing to his drill sergeant days. "Was never a drill sergeant," Rhodey said. "He's completely undisciplined and his main method of fighting is to flail around. You're ten times better than him. At least two times better."

"I'm not resentful that you're discounting years of martial arts training and MMA and boxing, I'm not resentful at all," Tony said. 

Peter did good with Rhodey, and sometimes very occasionally Vision. Vision was evolving, after all, hanging out clandestine with his gal pal Wanda. It made Vision something like happy, and both of them deserved to be happy so Tony never did anything. He didn't confront Vision and he never reported him. 

"I'd tell you to work with Happy like I did, but we try to discourage too much battering of him," Tony said. 

"Happy? Why can't I box a little with Happy?" Peter mimed boxing from his spot on the ceiling where he was pacing. Such a weird kid. 

"He was in a coma for a week, took the better part of a year to recover from being blown up and I've seen his cardiogram, I wasn't kidding. It's as bad as mine. Might be worse," Tony said.

"But you get battered all the time," Peter said. "Why are we coddling Happy?"

Tony said, "We're not coddling him. I'm a lot more of an idiot than Happy is the conclusion you should draw."

Tony and FRIDAY did a fair share of research on teaching tactics. It turned out the video games the kid already played were perfectly adequate for the task. He did make the kid read a few books and hired an actual person to show him some moves. "Did you just tell him to help train your intern?" 

Tony said, "Yes, Peter, I did. I'm Tony Stark, I do what I want."

"Just randomly gifting your intern with lessons in self-defense? That's very eccentric," Peter said. "Aunt May already said it was a little weird."

Tony said, "Tell her you're Spider-man and she'll completely understand."

"Another explanation, please," Peter said.

"Nope," Tony said. "Pay attention during the lessons. I had 'em all the time when I was a kid."

"Why would you have self-defense lessons?" 

Tony said, "My dad had a lot of money and was pretty well-known, there was some fear about me being kidnapped." 

"That's awful," Peter said. "Did someone kidnap you?"

"Multiple times," Tony said, looking at schematics. "No permanent scars, and it helped that I knew self-defense."

"Repeat: that's awful," Peter said. "I promise to pay attention."

It helped a little. It did not help that Peter was filled to the brim with confidence from all his training. He threw himself more into danger. 

"You have to admit, he's doing better," Rhodey said. 

"I don't have to do anything," Tony said. "You can't make me admit anything, either." 

He had alarms in the suit to let him know if Peter was seriously injured, or even mildly injured. Peter had also got in the habit of calling Tony at the end of his spidering shift. At least half the time Tony answered. 

Pepper would say, "oh, it's your little ward." Then she started saying, "Make sure he's okay."

Pepper showed up on lab days, met the kid, would come in and meet him sometimes when they were eating. She said, "He's a good kid. Very polite."

"Everyone loves him," Tony said. "Why don't they love me like that?"

"He's sweet and charming. Actually charming," Pepper said. "Why doesn't he tell his nice aunt he's Spider-man? The way he talks about her, she's clearly great."

"And raising him all by herself," Tony said.

Peter called after a long night. He was clearly concussed. Tony flew out to sit with him on some dingy rooftop. Peter had taken off his mask and was rubbing his head. 

Tony said, "Hey, hey, Peter Loyola Parker, Peter Ignatius Parker, Peter Brookhaven Chamondley Shire Parker, I should take you home."

"None of those are my middle name," Peter said. "I'm not, you know, I'm not Catholic. I'm not British or from Connecticut. Look at my teeth."

"That's actually a good refutation," Tony said. "Your teeth aren't awful so you're clearly not British. They're not perfect so you're not from a rich and snooty section of Connecticut. It's fun to make up middle names for you, though. P. Benji, sit up."

"I never had braces. You can tell I never had braces and I am sitting up," Peter said. 

"You sure didn't have braces. Sit up straight," Tony said. He did a little scan with FRIDAY. Mild concussion, as expected. Tony wondered how hard the kid had been hit. He'd review the footage when he got home. Tony said, "If your loving aunt knew you did this, you could relax at home with her. Instead we have to sit out here while I make sure you're okay to go home."

"Aww," Peter said. "I don't want her to know. She worries so much. We're all each other has. You take care of me when I'm out here, it's great. It all works."

"No, it doesn't," Tony said. But he sat there for another two hours until Teen Super Healing was well enough to go home. At least the kid was decent company, even concussed. 

Something was sure to go wrong, Tony knew it. 

The first sign of wrong was when Peter called and said nothing. Then he said, "Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark."

"You sound like crap," Tony said. He was already calling his suit. 

"It was very scary but I'm alive and I think that should count for something," Peter said. His voice was weak and gravel like.

"It very much does. What happened that was so scary?"

Peter said, "There was this guy with a machete. A machete? Do you say it like in the movie?"

"You can but you sound like some prep school idiot saying 'Bar-the-lona.' Look, Peter, did you get hurt by a guy with a machete?" He was three minutes out. 

"A little," Peter said. "He had a friend, too. And another friend. But I took care of them. They're all by the police station."

"Did you leave a whole trail of blood around them?"

"No," Peter said. "I don't think so." 

Tony arrived at Peter's location, yet another rooftop. Peter was a crumpled dark spot in the corner. Tony rushed down and said, "Peter, Peter, Petey." He was sure he sounded confident. 

Peter said, "Hey, hey, nice to see you. I'm pretty sure I didn't bleed around the bad guys."

Tony did a scan and everything was bad. Peter was chopped up and there was no way he hadn't bled everywhere. That was later tonight's problem. He told FRIDAY to get on that. He took off his gauntlets and pushed off Peter's mask. Peter said, "Hey. Nice to see you."

"You already saw me. You got chopped up pretty good, huh?"

Peter nodded. "You're right, that machete guy got me a lot. But I used strategy and didn't let that stop me. I stopped them and beat them all down."

"I bet you did," Tony said. He also muttered to FRIDAY to check on that. He sent a few drones. Then he focused back on the kid. There was so much blood. Tony wasn't freaking out. He definitely wasn't. 

He definitely was. "Peter," Tony said. "Look at me, okay. We're going to deal with this and also, I'm going to call your aunt because you're --"

"You're not," Peter said. He grabbed Tony's hand with his surprisingly still strong grip. It was almost painful. "You're not calling May. Fix me first."

"Yes, I will wave my magic wand and heal all your injuries," Tony said. "I can't actually do that. You're bleeding a lot, kiddo. That super healing isn't working just yet."

"Don't call May yet," Peter said. 

Tony said, "I have no obligation to listen to you." He did anyway, because he was stupid. He could wait a little. He needed to get the kid to Cho and her cradle. As quickly as possible. He couldn't just carry the kid. "Okay," he said. "Okay." He sent the suit he was wearing to hold Peter. He snapped for dramatic effect and sent the suit off. He could hear Peter whimpering. That wasn't good.

He summoned another suit for himself and flew after Peter, just five minutes behind. He caught up quickly enough. "Hey, Petey, Peter, you still alive in there?"

Peter was crying from the pain which was heartbreaking. Tony said, "Okay, okay, kid. Don't worry. I already paged Cho. There's a cradle waiting to regenerate you. She's prepared. You're going to be fine."

It was an agonizing ride to the compound. Thankfully the kid lost consciousness a few minutes before they hit the place. "Helen, Helen," Tony called. "Helen." He'd long since lost any sign of composure. 

The suit moved off the kid onto the table. Tony moved forward and helped them get the suit off, cutting everything away. Tony added fix suit to his list of things to do. Then he stepped away because he knew how this worked. Peter looked pale and small and like a kid. A ripped muscular kid, but a kid nonetheless. 

He waited, and waited, and played with his phone and set up cleaning the kid's blood out of his suit. He watched the machines do it. He didn't call the kid's aunt. He worried and worried and paced. Pepper came down from somewhere and looked even more worried. "That's not reassuring. I should call the kid's aunt."

"She must already be worried," Pepper said. 

"But he practically broke my hand," Tony said. "He feels very strongly about this. On the other hand, he's fifteen and not very good at thinking ahead. I already told him I don't have to listen to him."

Tony looked at the door and wondered. He was having a night. He said, "I love that stupid kid."

Pepper nodded. "I hope you don't take literal years to tell him. Also, he should tell his aunt. Maybe you should." 

Just then Helen Cho came out and Pepper stood up. Dr. Cho said, "He'll be mostly fine. He'll be fine. That healing factor is amazing, Tony."

"I need to talk to him, is he awake yet? I have to call his aunt," Tony said. 

Dr. Cho gave him the go ahead. Tony sat down next to the kid and his many many tubes coming out of him. Peter said, "Give me my phone, I have to call Aunt May."

"Oh, thank God," Tony said. "Talk to her."

"Thanks for the phone," Peter said. He dialed the number and said, "May. It's me, Peter, I borrowed Mr. Stark's phone, I can't find mine. May. Sorry, May, I was at the internship. I ate something, I don't even know what. All I've been doing is puking and pooping, it's awful. Mr. Stark is being super nice. Sorry I didn't call you earlier."

Tony was aghast and a little admiring. Peter made a face at him and nodded a lot. He said, "I know, I know, I should have called you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was just gross and like I said, puking and pooping. I think the worst is done, but I'm exhausted. Mr. Stark said it's okay to sleep here, also, they have a really nice bathroom right here."

Tony stared. Peter said, "I know, I know. I'm sorry I worried you. Mr. Stark kept telling me to call you. He was on that." Peter paused, listening. Then he said, "No, no, I'm at the compound. Avengers compound. Because that's where Mr. Stark's lab is." Another pause. "No, I think it was something I ate in Manhattan. I definitely should stop eating hot dogs from that place. Yeah, street meat got me. But it didn't really kick in until we were here at the compound. Like I said, really nice bathroom."

Tony could not stop gesturing expansively and pointing at the bandages on Peter's chest. Peter said, "Can't I just sleep it off here? I'm so exhausted, and all my clothes are gross, I'm just like naked with a towel around me here." Another pause. "Yeah, Mr. Stark offered me clothes. I told you, he's so nice. Can't you just pick me up in the morning, or after your shift? No one will be upset here."

Tony pointed at himself. He mouthed 'tell her the truth.' He wrote it on a tablet and held it up so Peter had to see it. Peter rolled his eyes. Then he said, "Okay, good. Seriously, don't worry. No one's been creepy, everyone's being super nice. Yes, they have the good pedialyte here, I won't get dehydrated."

After about ten I love yous the kid hung up. He said, "See? I didn't need to tell her."

"You think you'll be healed enough to just stroll out of here?"

Peter shrugged. "Didn't take any hits to my face or hands, everything will be covered and it will totally make sense if I'm a little stiff. I've never actually had food poisoning, isn't that weird? Do you have clothes I could borrow? I thought there were sweats around here."

"There's clothes, kid. You're fine there. But this, this just gambling you'll be conscious enough to think of an excuse? What if you weren't conscious again until morning? You're gonna let that very nice lady worry all night that you're out there?" Tony stepped up close so he could really be in Peter's face. Not shouting, just asserting his opinion. 

Peter sniffled and looked resolute. With his red rimmed teary eyes. He said, "Then you would call her. For now, it's fine. For now, she's worrying a lot less. This is the first time we've had to do this. Next time, okay? Okay?"

Tony didn't know why he said fine. He knew exactly why. He loved the stupid kid and he let himself be persuaded. It was a good thing Tony wasn't a parent because he was being a cupcake. He tried, though. He said, "Look, I'm just your loving mentor here, I'm not the parent like she is. But I think I'm pretty sure this will happen again. And you'll want her here when you wake up."

"Loving," Peter said, smirking. "You love me. I'm your favorite."

"Favorite pain in the ass, sure. No, that's Rhodey. Favorite teenager, sure. But that Amandla Stenberg? She'll probably overtake you. Smart, smart kid," Tony said. "Don't let it get to your head."

"No, no, of course not," Peter said. "Can I nap now?"

"You can sleep," Tony said.

He got clothes and shoes for the kid, left them in his medbay room. He conferred with Cho about the cradle and the super teen's metabolism. He even, at Pepper's insistence, went to bed himself. 

In the morning, he called May himself. He backed up Peter's dumbass story and told the poor woman that he had, in fact, told Peter to call his aunt a number of times. He was intentionally on the phone with her when he walked into Peter's room. It was fun to see how wide the kid's eyes could get. 

Peter said, "Look, I get it, you're not ready to admit how parent adjacent you are to me. But I do have this handled."

"That makes no sense. Parent adjacent? Come on. Now, you have nothing handled. You need to acknowledge that," Tony said. "Since you have nothing handled, I'm now going to tell you about the blood I had to clean up from you, the extra work we needed to put in to make sure those assholes went to jail and how you generally have everything about sixty five percent handled. At most. Okay?"

Peter pouted but he did actually listen. 

Sometime around four, Tony waited outside with Peter for May to pull up. Peter was in his Stark Industries sweat shirt and sweat pants finery, and a spare pair of Tony's slippers. One of Tony's drones had retrieved the kid's backpack and Tony had upgraded the back up Spider-man suit he kept. It had all the bells and whistles they'd just installed on the suit the day before. Before Peter had gotten it chopped up. 

May pulled up and practically jumped out. She was hugging the kid to death. It was nice to see him relaxed, though. "Which is why you should tell her," Tony muttered. Peter heard, May didn't. 

Peter waved from the car as they pulled away.


End file.
